race report
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 The crew of the J/120 Dayenu appeared at ease today. ©2011 norcalsailing.com |
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Rolex Big Boat Series Wraps Up September 11, 2011 Two kinds of winners emerged today at the 2011 Rolex Big Boat Series: those who triumphed over all their competitors and took home awards, and those whose scores were not so great but who had a really good time. Among the division leaders, the Farr 30s may be the most talked about. Competing for their World Championship, the cott Easom's Eight Ball led the regatta until today. Unlike the other divisions, which only sailed one long race, a Bay tour, the Farr 30s got in four fierce races today, to make up the two races missed yesterday afternoon due to the extremely gnarly conditions. Jim Richardson's Barking Mad moved into first after winning today’s first race and maintained his lead until the third race when, on the last leg, he fouled Rhonda Tolar’s Wild Thing after jibing too close and touching spinnakers. Barking Mad thus fell to third, opening the door for Deneen Demourkas's Groovederci to take the overall lead and then secure it in the last race. “Coming into today, I knew winning was a possibility, but we would need all four races,” said Demourkas. “In the first race, we were leading and hit the weather mark, so that wasn’t so good, but we did our penalty turn and managed to hold it all together. This is my ninth world championship in this boat; I’ve been a bridesmaid a few times, so I’ve paid my dues.” Deneen is also the president of the Farr 30 class. She explained that while a 30-footer might be considered small for the Rolex Big Boat Series, the St. Francis Yacht Club was “kind enough” to integrate them.
Donald Payan of Dayenu in IRC D called Saturday's racing a “heavyweight boxing match.” His boat won this event last year, sailing in the J/120 one design class. He decided to try his luck in IRC this year. “I wouldn’t have done it if there hadn’t been enough J/120s here to make a class without me. I’ve raced in one design for ten years, so I thought I’d try a different fleet...for the sense of adventure if nothing else. The J/120 is very stable, and when you get it in the groove going to weather in north of 16 knots, it does very well.” He said knock-downs are uncharacteristic for his team, but he endured some disastrous jibes Saturday that he thought would have cost him. “I thought we were doing so badly, but then I turned around and saw that everyone else was having trouble just the same as we were.” Sunday's Bay tour was sailed in flatter seas, lighter wind, and even some sunshine, making for a relaxing day by comparison.
The bowman on Dayenu, Tom Warren, explained that in IRC, you have a wider choice of sails than in one design, including some made for ocean racing. IRC gives the J/120s a favorable rating because of their interior, their weight, and their carbon-fiber shortage. With one exception, the J/120 fleet has been fine with Dayenu's adventures in IRC. The corrected finish times have been close enough that the Dayenu crew did not feel they were "running away with it." Barry Lewis's Chance won the J/120 division.
Other division winners included the very fast TP52 Vesper, owned by Jim Swartz with Gavin Brady calling tactics in IRC A. Brad Cooper's Tripp 43 TNT won IRC B. Andy Costello's J/125 Double Trouble achieved a perfect score to win IRC C. Despite yesterday's t-bone and retirement, Scooter Simmons' J/105 Blackhawk came back today to win their class. Kame Richards and his talented Golden Moon crew pulled a three-peat in the Express 37 fleet.
Among the crews we talked to who finished off the podium but satisfied, Chuck Cihak's J/105 Hazardous Waste has a new program, put together by tactician George Hughes. This was their first real regatta together. "We sucked but we're happy." They lost their bowman halfway through the series but found a "kid from the East Coast who's perfect. No one got hurt, the boat's not broken, and we're all happy."
John Clauser's 1D48 Bodacious+ in IRC B suffered some breakage during the craziness on Saturday, then they tore two spinnakers in today's comparatively mild conditions, the first - a recut - when they set it to check it on the way to the racecourse. But, again, no one got hurt, and the crew feel that they are still figuring out how to sail the boat to their rating. A new boat in town, Joseph Andresen Farr 40 High5, also in IRC B, was described by her crew as a precursor to the one design Farr 40. It's an older boat with a lot of history and a new home at St. Francis YC after living in SoCal for a long time. Cookson Boats of Auckland, New Zealand, built the boat to the IMS rule. Again, we were told that no one got hurt, but they broke something almost every day. On nukin' Saturday it was the head foil - the plastic crumbled and took them out of Races 5 and 6. They managed to replace it and race today, and had a good time.
Our congratulations go out to all the winners and survivors of an exhausting but exhilirating regatta. For more, including complete results, see www.rolexbigboatseries.com. Also be sure to check out our reports and photo galleries of the previous three days. Before racing began this morning, the boats paraded up to Blackaller Buoy in remembrance of 9/11. You may recall that the 2001 edition of this regatta was cancelled.
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